February 10, 2010

Dear family,

Well, my unsure feelings about being transferred have been in vain as I will stay here for another 6 weeks, unless there is an emergency transfer in the middle. YIPPEE!!!! I am very glad that Elder Dawson and I can work a little bit longer together and that I will be able to see one of our investigators through to baptism. I have absolutely loved the time I have had here in Aranjuez and I would love to stay here a lot more. We shall see what happens, as we have also been receiving word that President Watkins has sent a letter to the branch here through the stake president, that if we do have the meetings with the leadership of the branch then he will have to remove the missionaries. President Watkins is very firm and believing that the members are our biggest allies in the work of the Lord, and here, in the little 40-50 active member branch, we don´t meet with them as often as we should. We as missionaries have asked the branch president to have the branch counsel and the Priesthood Executive Committee meetings but they just aren´t in the habit of having them yet. Luckily, we do have our reunion de corelación (correlation meeting) almost every week with the líder misional (mission leader).

We are very happy this week. We are going to be moving into a different piso (apartment) in the coming weeks as President Watkins wants us to have a little bit more privacy. We have found the piso, actually rented by the same owner, just in the more central part of town, and the Mission Office is just finalizing the contract.
Ernesto, a investigator that has a baptismal date for the 27 of February is really catching on fire. He is a golden investigator. We teach him, he agrees with us, and then he goes home and reads the agreed on sections. He is so easy and I am excited for him to receive these restored blessings of baptism and confirmation. Ernesto arrived here from the Dominican Republic about 3 weeks ago and is living here with his sister, brother in law, and niece. He is looking for work and he is just so cool. We saw him one day on a bench in Ciempozuelos, started talking to him, got his phone number, and taught him the first lesson before the end of the week. He would have come to church that Sunday too, but he had to go to the ambulatorio or hospital with his niece. He went to our stake conference this Sunday with a member family. The Stake Conference was actually a broadcast from Salt Lake City, where Elder Nelson and other General Authorities spoke.

On the way to this stake conference we were riding the metro in dowtown Madrid when we saw a couple enter. They were nicely dressed and I thought that they were members going to the same stake conference as this particular metro line isn´t very crowded. They sat by us and we immediately new that they were indeed members because when they saw us they smiled and shook our hands.

We started talking and the women saw my name and said rather quizically, ¨Elder Driggs? now that is a rare name, you must be related to one of the two Driggs elders that served here.¨ I replied, ¨Well I had an uncle and an aunt serve here.¨ She went on to tell me that when she was 15 years old she was interviewed for baptism by an Elder Driggs. She said that he served in the year 1978, which I knew was somewhat accurate, doing the math in my head, and said also that he had served with a David Beck.

When I heard that name I had no doubt that she had indeed been talking about my Uncle Paul. It was so fun talking to her and seeing her still active, married in the temple, and attending a stake conference 30 minutes away from her house. She said that she and many other people here have very fond and loving feelings toward Uncle Paul and that he was an excellent missionary. She told me to say hi for her to Uncle Paul. Her name was Elisa and she was in branch five, I think. I have it written down in the agenda that I left at home, so I will have to report on it next week.


I also ran into the husband of one of Uncle Paul´s baptisms, Carlos Perez. He was sure a happy fellow and had great memories as well of Uncle Paul. It is nice running into people who know my uncle and to look up to someone that actually served here. The legacy of one missionary is certainly vivid and it is fun to see the blessings of 2 years of service.

Mom, I don´t know if you can wait until next week for my newsletter excerpt because I have run out of time. I hope that is okay, If not you can send the above story. Thank you again for your effort in doing that newsletter. It is so much fun seeing how all of my friends are doing, as they are doing the same things as me just in different parts of the world.

Thanks for all that you do and especially for the package. I have opened 10 gifts now and am excited for the 4 more. That was such a creative and cute idea…So my loving mom!!! Way to go on being the best mom in the world. And dad thanks for your wonderful and perfect example. You are most certainly the best dad in the world.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers and please pray our investigators will receive answers to their prayer and that they will have desires to come to church, read the Book of Mormon and be baptized.

Thank you and have a wonderful week. Say hi to everyone for me. Tell Cami, Mark, and Cari that I love them so much and would love to hear from them all every week. Thanks Mark for writing!

I know more and more everyday how critical it is to have the Spirit in our lessons and without it, teaching, and more importantly conversion, is impossible. I am relying on him more and more, and my sensitivity is deepening as well as I try to listen and act on those promptings.

Love,

Elder Driggs